food in the morning, but I got you an egg sandwich you can have for lunch.” She took the pill bottle from the windowsill where Harriet had left it and shook one out into her palm. “Here,” she said and handed the pill to Misty.
She picked up the bottle of water from the floor and held it out. Misty didn't say anything, but she took the pill and swallowed it. This time she did follow up with a long drink of water.
Carla put her empty container in the fast food bag and took it with her as she went to the door. She held the door open, and Harriet realized she was waiting for her to leave, too.
'She should be better by tonight. She'll be more normal when she's been on her medicine for a while, but that don't mean she'll remember everything that happened when she was off it. I mean, she remembers, but she can't tell what was real and what wasn't.'
'I have to try to talk to her. I think it's very possible she saw Avanell's murder.'
'I liked Miz Jalbert. I hope they catch whoever killed her, but if it depends on Misty, don't get your hopes up too high.'
Harriet followed her out of the shed. Carla disappeared down a path, and Harriet went back to the house. She came in just as Mavis emerged from the bathroom.
'My turn?” she asked.
Mavis looked at her. “It's all yours.'
Harriet was thankful she didn't ask more.
After her shower, she dressed in her jeans and one of her thrift shop shirts. Mavis was in the kitchen. Harriet watched as she loaded a thermos, two bottles of water and several plastic baggies filled with carrot and celery sticks into a padded carry bag. She started toward Harriet then turned back and grabbed a box of crackers.
'We can't be too good,” she said with a sheepish grin.
The drive to Tacoma seemed shorter this time, but Harriet supposed that was the result of having made it so many times it was becoming familiar. Mavis looked at her watch as they pulled into the show grounds.
'We're early,” she announced. “What do you say we go find a cup of coffee or tea and some kind of pastry? That should give them time to open.'
Harriet agreed, and Mavis directed her back out on the highway and off again at the next exit.
'Any exit that has more than two gas stations has to have a coffee shop,” she announced.
She was right.
The show was open when they pulled into the parking lot the second time. They bought their tickets and proceeded to spend the next three hours looking at all the exhibits in great detail. It always amazed Harriet to see the infinite number of ways people could combine color and fabric and thread and stitching to create truly unique works of art.
They saved the Loose Threads display until the end and were not disappointed. There was a small sign where Avanell's quilt had hung. Viewers were directed to the display of prize winners in an alcove at the front of the building.
'This can only mean one thing,” Mavis said. “Avanell must have won the overall.'
'Look,” Harriet said. She pointed at Robin's blue-and-yellow log cabin. It had a red rosette pinned to its corner.
'Looks like Jenny did all right, too,” Mavis said. The pink rosette pinned to Jenny's quilt was a perfect complement to its berry-and-sea-foam-green color scheme.
'Let's go to the quilt store and get some lunch, then we can come back and start taking these down and bagging them for the trip home.'
Mavis drove them across Tacoma, first to the quilt store then to an Italian restaurant called Tremonte's. Frank Tremonte had been a friend of her husband Thomas when they were in the Air Force together. She told Harriet she and Thomas had been among the first customers when Frank and his wife Rosalie opened the place and continued to eat there a few times a year ever after. Tremonte's specialized in the hearty dishes of southern Italy. It was located in a two-story bungalow-style house painted the same green that made up the end stripe of the Italian flag.
Harriet breathed deep as they walked into the warm room. The smell of garlic and oregano permeated the air. A narrow shelf rimmed walls with a display of colorful patterned plates she recognized as Sicilian. A slim young woman in a green apron led them to a corner booth.
'Where are your parents off to now?” Mavis asked the dark-haired man who brought a basket of crusty French bread to their table moments later. “Harriet, meet Tommy Tremonte. His parents turned the restaurant over to his capable hands when they retired. Seems like they've been traveling ever since.'
Harriet made the appropriate small talk, and the two women placed their orders. Her fettuccine Gamberi featured shrimp and basil in a cream sauce. Mavis chose the hearty Tuscan chicken and vegetables, and Harriet could quickly see this was one of those places where everything on the menu was worthy of selection.
'I guess this will be dinner, huh?” She asked.
'This might be all we need until next week,” Mavis said and groaned. “I guess we better go back and get our work done. Moving around a little will do us some good.'
Harriet was folding Avanell's quilt when Jeri approached her. The long-limbed blond woman was dressed in navy-blue wool flannel pants and a white oxford-cloth shirt. Her sleeves were rolled up to the elbows. She held out a manila mailing envelope.
'Could you take this to your group?” she asked. “The individual prize premiums are in sealed envelopes inside. Since all the winners were within your group entry, you might as well save us the postage.'
Harriet reached for the envelope. The woman pulled it back a little.
'You'll need to sign the receipt indicating you're taking responsibility for the funds.” She held a slip of paper and a pen in her other hand. “We weren't really sure where to send Avanell Jalbert's prize money.” She lowered her voice. “I understand her daughter put her house on the market right after the funeral.'
'Things have changed,” Harriet said. “But I'll take it anyway.'
She wasn't sure if Michelle had actually left Foggy Point or not, but if she'd been Aiden, she'd have changed the locks the minute his sister walked out the door. She could imagine Michelle waiting until he left in the morning then going in and taking the prize money and anything else she thought she could get away with. With him having been out of the country for three years, anything Avanell had acquired while he was gone could be fair game.
She finished folding Avanell's quilt. She looked in the tote bag she'd used to carry the quilt sacks in, but it was empty. She knew the quilt had arrived in a pillow slip, but it was nowhere to be found.
She carefully slid the quilt into the tote bag. She'd have to look in her car when they got back to Foggy Point.
Thinking about her Honda made Harriet want to cry. It wasn't just one more freedom she'd lost in the last week. Her Honda was the first major purchase she'd made after Steve died. It was the first step toward her new independent life, and now it was sitting unused in her driveway while she hid away at Mavis's house.
That was going to change, she decided. When Monday came, she was going back home. She'd call an alarm company, change the locks and turn Aunt Beth's house into Fort Knox if she needed to, but she was going home.
She carried the bags of quilts to the front of the display room. Mavis had a stack of others on a pushcart.
'One of the janitors loaned me this cart to help us get out to the car.” She stopped. “What's got into you? You look like you just won the lottery or something.'
Harriet knew she was smiling. “I'm going home,” she said.
Mavis looked at her over the top of her glasses. “What do you mean, home?” she asked.
'I'm going back to Aunt Beth's on Monday. I'll do whatever I need to do to be sure I'm safe, but I'm going home.'
'All right, then,” Mavis said. “You tell me what I can do to help and I'll do it.'
They spent much of the ride home discussing the various safety measures that could be taken to prevent another break-in.
'We should talk to Darcy,” Mavis said. “Unfortunately, her job has schooled her well in what doesn't work, safety-wise.'
'Thank you for not trying to talk me out of this,” Harriet said and felt tears forming in her eyes. “I'm not sure Aunt Beth would be so supportive if she were here.'
